How Many Hens per Rooster

[tmarsh83]

I will have 4 roosters and 11 hens is that a bad ratio? If they all get along?

A lot depends on the individual animals, but from what I've read/learned that ratio is playing with fire and kerosene.

Two roos to 11 hens is iffy, four is asking for fight club and a lot of barebacked hens...

 

[Egghead_Jr]

4 cockerels to 11 pullets is probably asking for trouble. As mentioned earlier in this old thread- a lot depends on the individual cockerels involved. Your hens will likely be roughly sexed to the point of bare backs and missing hackle feathers. I'd go with only two males to that many birds.

 

[gazela]

how many hens per roster

 

[lazy gardener]

My roo happily covers 25 gals, and fertility is about 100%

 

[Free Feather]

I have like one boy to two girls, but I have mostly bantams and game breeds, and they are used to there being lots of boys. I also free range and separate the rambunctious ones over the Winter. I only have one girl with back feather damage (the head hen), but she has always had really brittle feathers, and so does her daughter.

 

[Macis Papa]

I have a buff orpington rooster with 28 hens and he's close to 100%

 

[TheTwoRoos]

It depends on what your doing,You can use 1 roosters with 6 hens,or anything,it really doesn't matter.

 

[birdbrain79]

It all depends on your set-up. One rooster could cover 70 hens if you had 7 runs with 10 hens each. Simply rotate your rooster to the next run every night. He wakes up to different hens every day. That will keep him motivated. Replacing the rooster every other year with a cockerel will keep you in business as long as the hens are laying.

 

[cheriegg]

If I have 1 rooster is there a minimum amount of hens I should have?

 

[lazy gardener]

Personally, I'd not have a roo if I had less than 10 hens. My roo easily covers 24 hens with very good fertility.